Hartley’s Sports Shorts; Thursday, March 27th

Sports by Hartley Thursday, March 27th, 2025

(As of 12:05 a.m. All times listed are PDT)

WHL:

The Prince George Cougars finished 8th out of 22 teams in WHL attendance, averaging 4,178 fans per game at CN Centre during the 2024-25 regular season.

That is tops among all B.C. Division teams.

This is an increase of 18.7 % from the previous season where the average was just over 3,500.

The Edmonton Oil Kings led the league with an average attendance of 7,525 which was about a 1,000 more than the Spokane Chiefs who came second.

.@PGCougars attendance up by nearly 19%
| https://t.co/WOG9XoQeGC #cityofpg #PrinceGeorge #northernbc #sports pic.twitter.com/rycEShQt0U

— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 26, 2025

The PG Cougars host the Portland Winterhawks Friday and Saturday.

The best-of-7 first round series will shift to Portland in the 2-3-2 format, Tuesday, Wednesday and if needed Friday of next week (April 1st, 2nd and 4th).

Games six and seven, if necessary, will be played in Prince George on Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th.

RUN. IT. BACK.

Round One of the 2025 #WHLPlayoffs presented by Nutrien is set to re-ignite the rivalry between 2024 Western Conference Championship combatants, the @PGCougars and @pdxwinterhawks!

📝 | https://t.co/P3hKYnqPm2 pic.twitter.com/VQg7GyONlL

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 25, 2025

The (41-21-4-2) Cougars finished second in the BC Division and 4th in the Western Conference.

The (36-28-3-1) Winterhawks ended up third in the US Division and 5th in the Conference.

The Winterhawks won all four regular season meetings against the Cougars, although they have not met in over three months (since Dec. 13th).

P.G. was 24-5-3-2 on home ice this season while Portland was 17-14-2-1 on the road.

The battle reignites!

We face off against the Portland Winterhawks in Round One of the WHL Playoffs—a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Championship Series!

Tickets for Games 1 & 2 are on sale NOW at https://t.co/mDqoeZUhv5! pic.twitter.com/H0ZXsYv0k0

— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 22, 2025

The WHL Conference standings are here.

NHL: (4 Wednesday games with 2 Canadian teams in action)

Vancouver  5  New York Islanders  2

The game summary is here.

The (34-26-12) Canucks, with just 10 games left, continue a 6-game road trip Friday  (4:00) against the (32-29-9) Blue Jackets in Columbus.

Vancouver is 3 points behind the (38-28-7) St. Louis Blues for the 2nd and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The (34-25-11) Calgary Flames are 4 points back of St. Louis with three games in hand.

Dallas  4  Edmonton 3
Anaheim  6  Boston  2
New Jersey  5  Chicago  3

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Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals visit the Minnesota Wild tonight.

It is one of 10 Thursday games in the NHL.

The 39-year-old Ovechkin has 889 career goals, 6 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894.

The (47-15-9) Caps, who have the best record in the NHL, have 11 regular season games remaining.

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The Philadelphia Flyers have sacked head coach John Tortorella and replaced him on an interim basis with associate coach Brad Shaw.

The (28-36-9) Flyers have the second worst record in the Eastern Conference and will likely miss the playoffs for the 5th straight year.

The NHL schedule and results are here or here.